100 
THE BOOK OF FISHES 
The Lake Trout is easily distinguished from 
other Trouts by the numerous small, pale-yellowish 
spots which cover its body from head to tail. It 
is a voracious fish. Forbes tells of a 2o-pound 
Lake Trout which had 13 good-sized Lake Herring 
in its stomach. 
Lake Trout fry are turned out by the fish hatch¬ 
eries in great numbers. The spawning season 
varies in different lakes. Five or six thousand eggs 
are stripped from fishes of ordinary size, but large 
specimens yield many more. The eggs hatch in 
from two to three months. 
'Fhe Lake Trout endures captivity very well; 
the Aquarium has 20-inch specimens received in 
1919, some of them perfect albinos with bright pink 
eyes. 
Several names are applied to the Lake Trout, 
one of which is Mackinaw Trout. In the lakes of 
Maine it is called I'ogue, while in Canadian lakes 
it goes by the Indian name Namaycush. 
McCLOUD RIVER RAINBOW TROUT 
(Salmo irideus shasta) 
{For illustration see Color Plate^ page 118) 
The Rainbow Trout belongs to the Pacific slope 
of the Sierras and Cascades; wherever it is found to 
the eastward of these ranges it is an importation. 
There are several geographic races of this Trout, 
the one now found in Eastern streams and lakes 
being the northern California variety, Salmo irideus 
shasta. Commencing in the early eighties, the 
original stock was widely distributed from the 
Government hatchery on McCloud River south of 
Mount Shasta. It was the writer’s good fortune 
to be attached to this station years ago and to 
participate in its work. 
The acclimatization of this fish in other parts of 
the United States and in foreign countries is one 
of the notable successes of modern* fish culture. 
Taken to New Zealand in the late eighties, it soon 
became well established there. 
The introduction of the Rainbow Trout in East¬ 
ern States provided a substitute for the Brook 
IVout in many waters which had become unsuitable 
for that species, as a result of advancing civilization. 
While generally not as large in the East as in 
its native Sierra streams, it has in certain favorable 
localites been found even larger. It can endure 
warmer water than the Brook Trout and live 
farther downstream than that species. In streams 
near the sea it often lingers in brackish water. 
While the Rainbow Trout is a springtime spawner 
on the Pacific slope, depositing its eggs from 
February to May, it has in its Eastern habitat 
adapted itself to the very different climatic condi¬ 
tions prevailing there and now spawns in the fall 
and early winter, like the Brook Trout, but the 
eggs hatch in less time. 
The vitality of the artificially fertilized eggs has 
made it possible to ship them to great distances in 
a half-incubated condition, after which the hatching 
process can be completed by ordinary fish-hatchery 
methods. In this way fertilized eggs of the Rainbow 
Trout have been sent to the Atlantic coast, to 
Europe, and even to New Zealand in refrigerated 
packages with but little loss. 
'I'his is the method now used in distributing not 
only Trouts and Salmons, but many other kinds of 
fishes. 
Eastern anglers do not usually rate the Rainbow 
with the Brook Trout as a game fish, but we can¬ 
not believe that this criticism applies in its native 
rivers. It is, perhaps, true that it is there a better 
food fish. Anglers have their own ideas on such 
matters, and are not to be dissuaded from opinions 
formed in places where they have enjoyed good 
sport. 
In the McCloud River we have taken three- and 
four-pound specimens, but the average is smaller. 
It is known to attain a weight of 10 pounds, especially 
when transplanted to warmer waters, or where the 
food supply and the large area of a lake provide 
contlitions favoring greater growth. 
It is probably not so gamy a fish in warm waters 
as in mountain streams. We have seen it leap 
repeatedly when hooked—a thing the Brook Trout 
seldom does. 
The Rainbow is a fine sportsman’s fish, taking 
the fly much like other Trouts, and is not a com¬ 
petitor of the Brook Trout in maintaining a place 
in the wider habitat now afforded it. 
In some localities the identity of the Rainbow 
is confused with that of the Steelhead {Salmo 
gairdneri)^ also a Pacific coast fish, which has been 
successfully acclimatized in streams flowing into 
Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and elsewhere. It 
has smaller scales than the Steelhead. In California 
the Rainbow is not inclined to seek the sea like 
the Steelhead, while the latter ranges far inland 
at spawning time, like the Salmon. A few Steel- 
heads have been taken in the McCloud River 300 
miles from salt water, and it is not unlikely that 
some of the Steelhead eggs were unwittingly 
shipped from there with eggs of the Rainbow. 
With its broad, iridescent, purplish-red band 
along the side, the Rainbow Trout is well named. 
EASTERN PICKEREL (Esox reticulatus) 
{For illustration see Color Plate, page iig) 
The Eastern Pickerel—the largest of our three 
species—belongs chiefly to the region east of the 
Alleghenies, from Maine to Florida. It reaches a 
length of two feet and a weight of seven or eight 
pounds. Two or three pounds would be near the 
average size, which varies, however, with the 
locality. 
Chain Pickerel is a name much used in the 
North, while Jack is more common in the South. 
It is often confused with the Pike in waters where 
both are found. 
Like others of the family, it leads a solitary 
life, except at spawning time. Pickerels captured 
by bait trolling in New Jersey lakes have been 
taken in rather shallow places, where they found 
shelter among water plants. Here also the Pickerel 
deposits its spawn. The eggs are thrown off in 
long masses like those of Perch and are usually 
seen among submerged brush and weeds. In the 
North it spawns in April and May; in the South it 
spawns earlier and grows faster. 
The Pickerel stays in deeper water in winter and 
is then taken through holes cut in the ice. 
It is said that in ponds devoted to fish culture a 
Pickerel five years old may be a foot and a half 
long and weigh two pounds, but rapidity of growth 
depends upon the abundance of food. 
The Pickerel will seize a fish half as large as itself 
and swallow it by degrees. 
All fishes of the Pike-Pickerel family are taken by 
similar methods. Fishes and Frogs are good live 
baits and are used in trolling, casting, and skittering 
and artificial lures are used in the same ways. 
